Overview

Set on the Park Avenue Boulevard in Downtown Portland, OR, the Oregon Historical Society Building took its place during 1966 in a cultural ensemble that also included the Portland Art Museum, Portland State University and four neighboring churches. The three-story building provided the Oregon Historical Society, founded on 12/17/1898, its first dedicated space that included storage areas, offices, and exhibition space.

Building History

The Portland architectural firm of Wolff, Zimmer, Gunsul and Frasca, designed the Oregon Historical Society (OHS) Building with the assistance of Portland architect Pietro Belluschi (1899-1994), who served as a consultant. The OHS's own website discussed the critical role played by its Director Thomas Vaughan (1924-2013) who was hired as the group's first full-time leader in 1954. "Vaughan's fundraising efforts toward a purpose-built, society-owned facility culminated in the opening on October 1, 1966, of a three-story headquarters building on a prominent downtown site opposite the Portland Art Museum. Designed in a neo-brutalist style by Wolff Zimmer Gunsel Frasca, with input from Pietro Belluschi, the building included collection storage areas and space for curatorial, editorial, and administrative offices. By 1970, the society employed a staff of nearly three dozen, supplemented by volunteers and student interns." (See Richard H. Engeman, Oregon Historical Society.org, "History of the Oregon Historical Society," accessed 11/07/2023.)

PCAD id: 24857